Motherhood Mondays: The best book...

Anne Lamott tells the story of her first year as a mother to a baby boy; she was single, 35 and a recovering alcoholic. Her honest, smart and up-roaringly hilarious descriptions of new motherhood—including both meltdowns and sacred moments—made me laugh out loud and tear up. I LOVED this book!

Have you read it? What did you think? (I just ordered her book Bird by Bird, too.) What other books are you reading? I'd love to hear!

sorry. had to share a quote from the blue jay's dance: "Any sublime effort has its dark moments. Perhaps, if anything, the meaning in this book for others may be this: Here is a job in which it is not unusual to be, at the same instant, wildly joyous and profoundly stressed."

My girlfriend gave it to me the day we came home from the hospital with our (then) two day old son. I read it every time I nursed him, which meant I finished it in about 3 days. It was a life saver and made me feel like it was ok to feel the way I did. :) I loved it! It is now a gift I will always give to people with newborns...

I love that book and I'm not even a mother! Anne Lamott is one of my favorite writers - she's so funny and honest, writing all-out about her fears and insecurities and makes the reader feel not alone. Not often can an author be both hilarious and full of grace.

Love Anne Lamott! Love Operating Instructions! I devour anything she writes. Sadly, as the mother of a 6 year old and 3 year old, I don't do nearly as much reading as I would like. I have hope that I will one day read again! :)

I have read this book approximately 5,000 times since receiving it as a graduation gift from college 15 years ago. It is a good life guide for any point in your life, but it definitely came off the shelf again the day I found out I was having a boy. I always find it somewhat crazy to think that little Sam is now, what, 22 years old?

I read this during the first few weeks of motherhood as I was battling sleep deprivation, shingles, and learning how to breastfeed. I really just wanted it all to end and couldn't understand why people didn't tell you how awful it could be. This book saved me just because I new that there were others out there that struggled, too. And, even though Anne appeared to be suffering from postpartum depression, she still came out of it in the end, loving her new little boyfriend.

I first read this book while I was pregnant, and then reread it again when my daughter was born. I think I referred to it more often than my Dr Sears babybook, just as a check that this too was normal, and then that this too shall pass, and let's just laugh about it in the meantime. I still think of her discription of her son's hand as a starfish, somehow I've always held onto that image as part of the beauty of a newborn baby.

I just looked her up, and it turns out little Sam is a father now!!! I'll have to check her out. I love humorous, semi-autobiographical writers. Nothing's more entertaining than life and recognizing that it's never perfect.

I love it, too. :) I started it when I was pregnant and still digesting what it meant that I was going to be a mother...and am almost ashamed to admit that I'm not done with it yet and Josephine is 8 1/2 months old. I loved it so much that I didn't want to rush it. ;)

Anne Lamott was recommended to me in a writing class that I took last winter. I happened to find Operating Instructions on a shelf at a consignment store a few weeks after the class ended; for 50 cents -I bought it. Love it!!

I wish I had this book as my 'baby bible' when I was a single mom raising my daughters!

I laughed a lot at every real-life event and cringed at the raw, honest emotion, but mostly... I smiled and reminisced because I could so easily relate!

The. Most. Wonderful. Book. ever. I read it while I was home with a new baby and had not a clue as to why I wanted to jump out of the window half the time! I didn't and that was 7 years ago. She makes you feel like you're completely normal. I love Anne Lamott, required reading in my book!

I'm not quite on the path to motherhood yet. But I'll have to write this down for future reference. But I am reading the Hunger Games series right now in preparation for the moving coming out and they are amazing. A very easy but entertaining read.

I was given the book a year ago when I had my daughter. I had never heard of the book (now almost 20 years old). I felt like I had a hilarious friend going through new motherhood with me. She put to words everything I was feeling. Highly recommend it.

Sounds like a great read! I will have to check it out with #2. The book that saved me with my daughter (now 2) was Circle of Moms. Sounds like this book, but also offers really sound, sane advice on things like how to get your baby to sleep through the night. Highly, highly recommend!

I haven't read this one, but I've read a few of her others. She's such a beautiful author; incredibly relatable and honest! One of my favorite essayists. She also writes for Salon if you're interested in more of her work.

i haven't read this one, but have read all of her other books. i always end up devouring them; anne is one of my absolute favorite authors. i've been saving 'operating instructions' for the day i'm a momma, though. :)

Okay, that's next on my list! I loved reading about being a new mother when I first became one myself. I read a book called "The Newborn Mother" while nursing my first, and although the book was dated and not super-memorable, the one thing that really stuck with me was this: some of the mothers interviewed in the first few months of motherhood described the most awful and intense feelings, and then six months later they said, "Oh, really? Did I say that?"

I'll check that one out next. Right now I'm listening to on audio (during the day) and reading (at night) Wendy Mogel's "The Blessing of a Skinned Knee". It's just full of sound, unpretentious advice for raising a brave, independent, loving, unspoiled child. She uses the time-tested lessons of parenting as laid out in the Jewish Bible as a guide. Full of good advice to help you stay unanxious and create a close family unit with well-adjusted children. After that article in the Atlantic came out a couple weeks ago, everyone started recommending this one to me and I'm glad I checked it out! It's really great!

I just read the book FNo Biking in the House Without a Helmet by Melissa Fay Greene. It's about her family's trials and tribulations through the adoption of four (or was it five?) children. I had exactly the same reaction to it that you had to Operating Instructions. I cried regularly, laughed constantly, and by the end it joined the ranks of my favorite books. I would highly recommend reading it. Although I'm not a parent myself, her stories and questions about what it means to be a family are universally relatable.

I read this a few months after my baby was born last fall, such a great book! I love the passage where she talks about how motherhood has effected her writing, that her need to achieve has changed. It was comforting to know I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

Operating Instructions is so wonderful.Another great book that offers a very down to earth parenting story is "Waiting for Birdy" by Catherine Newman. Her writing is so warm and hilarious and real. She also has a blog where she's detailed a lot of her parenting adventures (now that her kids are older she's focused more on cooking and has lots of great recipes!)

Check out My Mother Wears Combat Boots written by Jessica Mills http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Wears-Combat-Boots-Parenting/dp/1904859720 if you haven't already. Its one of those few parenting books that makes you feel sane and competent in your parenting while making you giggle at how silly it all is.

It is a sweet and oftentimes boldly honest book. I think I read it a bit of years ago when I was in my early twenties... and I didn't have children then (or now, I guess, for that matter!). A few people told me, "You have to have a child to enjoy this book." I think you just have to read good writing to enjoy a book. Which it is...( and I did!) So glad you love it.

I love Anne Lamott. I had the pleasuring of meeting her at one of her book readings last year. She was just as witty and gracious as you'd imagine her to be. I agree with other commenters- both Bird by Bird and Traveling Mercies are wonderful books !

Read it when my now 16 year old was in his first year. I love , love ,loved it and found myself in tears of laughter. Lamott's honesty is refreshing. I went on to read HArd Laughter. Greatly enjoying your posts.

Joanna, you absolutely MUST read "Waiting for Birdy" by Catherine Newman next. This book saved my sanity as a new mother and I literally press it in the hand of every pregnant friend I have. It is hilarious! I read it out loud to my husband on our babymoon. :) You will love it.

Oh yes, Operating Instructions! It was almost twelve years ago when I discovered it, inhaled it while nursing my first son. It was the first book I read as a new mother that made me feel less alone. Like I had found someone-FINALLY! Who was telling the truth about those early days of motherhood. I now give it as a baby shower gift whenever I can!

Operating Instructions is my gift of choice for anyone having a new baby, especially their first. Bird by Bird is a wonderful book about the writing process, but you really want to follow up with Traveling Mercies as Toby gets older. I love the honesty in her non-fiction books. You walk away feeling like you are really okay in spite of your doubts when you finish reading her books.

Anne is my favourite author. You will love Bird By Bird. I also recommend Travelling Mercies: Thoughts on Faith, even if you aren't inclined to read a book on faith, each chapter is filled with wonderful (and teary) stories from her life.

i just finished reading "bird by bird" last night. one of the best books i've ever read about living an honest life. all night i was writing letters in my mind to anne lamott... i couldn't go to sleep my mind was so wrapped around her message.

Oh I can't wait to read this. It's going straight on my Kindle for this weekend's vacation reading. I love Bird by Bird and use parts of it for teaching my creative writing classes. It's one of the very best books on writing there is.

Joanna,Anne Lamott is a favorite in my family. Gabe, my husband, uses Bird by Bird when he teaches English Comp classes and I love her fiction just as well, especially Crooked Little Heart and Blue Shoe. Enjoy!

I'm a huge Anne Lamott fan, and yet I've never read this book! Now that I'm spending every waking moment worrying about/watching/obsessing over my 3-week old son, it's jumped to the top of my reading list. I'm sure it will take at least a year to get through it at this point, but anything I can do to make me feel slightly less out of my head is worth it! On my reading list now? "Let's Panic About Babies." Typical.

I have read it 3 times! The last time was when I brought my second baby home...I read it in the wee hours of the morning. I needed to know I was not alone in that hard hard stage of newborness.... With no sleep and trying so hard to breastfeed... Feeling a bit crazy & disconnected....remember? Anne Lamott truly helped & comforted me during those first few weeks with my new baby being. Love her & all her work. Traveling Mercies is another must read.

Love that book! I read it years before I was pregnant with my son and then re-read it when I found out I was having a boy. Particularly loved those images of her sleeping in the living room with baby and cat. There is something very soothing and sweet about those early days with a newborn that she captures so beautifully.

This is one of my favorite books (along with 'Bird by Bird'). I gave it as a gift to all my friends who were new moms. I was part of the cult of Anne Lamott 10 years ago, and read all her books then. However, I just realized that I did not read it myself (again) when I became a mom 2.5 years ago! Must rectify that immediately! will be great to read it again with the perspective of being a mother.

Joanna, if you haven't already read it, I highly recommend "A Question of Balance: Artists and Writers on Motherhood." This is interviews with several well-known writers and artists about how they handled their art/writing and their roles as moms.

When my first son was born I read it repeatedly looking for some secret about how to do it all. It's a great read, but (spoiler alert) there is no secret. They had family or friends or nannies or daycare. We do what we can to strike a balance, but we can only do so much with a precious baby in our arms...and that's okay.

joanna - first off, i love what you're saing in these motherhood posts. it is a wealth of information, especially for a new mom like me. i'm curious...do you have any book recommendations from a man/father's perspective. i am a big reader but my husband is not, so i know he is not going to be into reading a parenting book written by a mother (although mom's typically know best). just wondering if you had any ideas...

I've read Bird by Bird but not Operating Instructions. I love her witty no nonsense, direct humor! I also admire her writing style. I actually read Bird by Bird for a writing class I took and it was really helpful. Enjoy it!